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How sure can you be that the font you specify will be present on the end user's machine? This is the latest snapshot of the of the Code Style Unix font survey and should give you greater confidence in selecting a font.

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The most common Linux fonts

The most common font reported for Unix family systems are Matthew Carter's serif Bitstream Charter for X Windows and DejaVu Sans Mono, both at 89%. Nimbus Mono L and the cursive URW Chancery L follow close behind at 88% frequency. Century Schoolbook L completes the top 5 Linux fonts.

Survey statistics

These figures are the cumulative total of about 1 Linux survey submission per week since January 2004, 329 total. The average number of fonts reported per submission is 20 of the 40 included in the Unix font family survey sample.

Common fonts on Unix family systems to 12 April 2008
Font name Installed (%) Sample Image
Bitstream Charter 88.89% 88.89% Sample  
DejaVu Sans Mono 88.89% 88.89% Sample  
Nimbus Mono L 88.45% 88.45% Sample Image
URW Chancery L 88.45% 88.45% Sample Image
Century Schoolbook L 87.84% 87.84% Sample Image
URW Gothic L 86.02% 86.02% Sample Image
URW Bookman L 82.37% 82.37% Sample Image
URW Palladio L 81.16% 81.16% Sample Image
Bitstream Vera Sans Mono 80.12% 80.12% Sample Image
Bitstream Vera Sans 77.98% 77.98% Sample Image
Nimbus Roman No9 L 76.29% 76.29% Sample  
Courier 73.86% 73.86% Sample Image
Bitstream Vera Serif 68.50% 68.50% Sample Image
DejaVu Sans Condensed 66.67% 66.67% Sample  
Utopia 62.61% 62.61% Sample Image
Arial 61.70% 61.70% Sample Image
Courier New 61.70% 61.70% Sample  
Nimbus Sans L 57.89% 57.89% Sample  
Helvetica 56.84% 56.84% Sample Image
Times New Roman 55.62% 55.62% Sample  
DejaVu Serif Condensed 55.56% 55.56% Sample  
Liberation Mono 55.56% 55.56% Sample  
Liberation Sans 55.56% 55.56% Sample  
Liberation Serif 55.56% 55.56% Sample  
Verdana 53.80% 53.80% Sample  
Arial Black 53.19% 53.19% Sample  
Impact 52.89% 52.89% Sample  
DejaVu Sans 52.63% 52.63% Sample  
Georgia 51.67% 51.67% Sample  
Fixed 51.37% 51.37% Sample Image
Comic Sans MS 50.76% 50.76% Sample  
Trebuchet MS 49.54% 49.54% Sample  
Andale Mono 48.33% 48.33% Sample  
Times 47.72% 47.72% Sample  
New Century Schoolbook 45.90% 45.90% Sample  
Nimbus Sans L Condensed 44.44% 44.44% Sample  
DejaVu Serif 42.11% 42.11% Sample  
FreeMono 42.11% 42.11% Sample  
FreeSans 42.11% 42.11% Sample  
FreeSerif 42.11% 42.11% Sample  

Several of the lowest rank fonts have been removed from the current survey, but their reported frequency is recorded here for reference.

Quick links: Code Style font sampler

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